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There are several ways to save money while traveling, and you can even begin the process before your trip. The better you plan, the more likely you are to save money.

Create A Vacation Budget

If you plan out where you will be going and roughly how you will be spending your money, it will be easier to save money during your trip. First start with transportation fees, beginning with your plane ticket. Using search engines such as Kayak are helpful in comparing flight prices and finding the cheapest option to get to any given destination. Your plane ticket or other transportation costs will probably be the most expensive part of your trip. When that’s done, the next bulk of your money will go to accommodations and food. Again, you can use a search engine to help with finding a cheap (but nice) place to stay. As for the food, that’ll depend on your personal preferences as well as the size of your appetite. Street food is often a cheap and delicious alternative to a sit-down meal at a restaurant. Better yet, try cooking for yourself while traveling. Finally consider the cost of drinks, souvenirs, entry fees, and local transportation.

If Breakfast Is Free…Eat It

Most hotels and even some hostels offer a complimentary breakfast, often times in the form of a buffet. Even if your only choices are bread, cheese, and butter, it’s smart to fill up on the free breakfast foods. That way, you’re more likely to eat less and save more throughout the day.

Take A Walk

Although local transportation may not seem costly, taxi rides and buses can add up. Throw your fears of getting lost aside and if where you’re trying to go is close enough, take a walk. This will give you the opportunity to interact more with the locals when you ask for directions, and you’ll get to see a side of the city or town you wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise, not to mention it’s free.

Interact With The Locals

While walking from one destination to the other and asking for directions, chat up the locals. It’s likely they’ll be able to provide some insight on where the locals actually go, away from the tourist hotspots. Restaurants and shops that aren’t frequented by tourists won’t have the same inflated prices as the convenient touristic establishments. Not everyone you talk to will be accommodating, but it’s worth the try to ease the strain on your wallet.

These are just some of the simple ways to save money while traveling. If you set a budget for yourself before your trip, and keep reminding yourself of it while traveling, then it will be a lot easier to manage your money. Using some of these tips will add up in savings in the long run.

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Trying to find a safe, clean, and budget-friendly hotel in Bangkok can sometimes be a difficult task to accomplish. From the Take a Nap Hotel to the Regent Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel, there are many affordable hotels in Bangkok to choose between. Here are the top 5 cheapest hotels in Bangkok.

1. Take a Nap Hotel

With rates starting at 255 Thai bahts or $8.13 U.S. dollars, the Take a Nap Hotel is perfect for the cash-strapped individual. Unbeknownst to many people, each room at this particular hotel boasts a different theme. Popular themes include “Central Park” and “What a World.” Room facilities include air-conditioning, television, and high-speed Internet access. The Take a Nap Hotel is located on 920-926 Rama4 Rd.

2. Lub d Hotel

Located in Bangkok’s thriving entertainment district, the Lub d Hotel boasts 4 different dormitory-type rooms.  Women will especially like the Lub d Ladies’ Dormitory. Rates start at 289 Thai bahts or $9.21 U.S. dollars. The Lub d Hotel is located on 4 Decho Rd.

3. Rambuttri Village Inn

If you’re looking for an affordable, family-friendly accommodation in Bangkok, look no further than the Rambuttri Village Inn. Besides offering a rooftop swimming pool, this hotel also features a first-rate restaurant, an Internet cafe, and a pharmacy! Rates start at 510 Thai bahts or $16.25 U.S. dollars. The Rambuttri Village Inn is located at 95 Soi Ram Buttri. If you want to be near some of Bangkok’s most popular tourist attractions, consider booking a stay at this hotel.

4. Unico Express

Few hotels in Bangkok are as clean or as comfortable as Unico Express. Besides featuring a modern style, Unico Express also boasts affordable prices. Current rates start at 637 Thai bahts or $20.30 U.S. dollars. Unico Express is located on 74 Sukhumvit Rd.

5. Regent Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel

If you’re looking to stay at a more sophisticated hotel in Bangkok, look no further than the Regent Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel. Besides featuring a great location, this popular hotel also boasts free WIFI and room service. Rates start at 833 Thai bahts or $26.55 U.S. dollars. The Regent Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel is located at 30/1, 32/1 Soi Ladkrabang 22.

To get the most bang for your buck while traveling to and from Bangkok, consider researching cheap Bangkok flights beforehand. Saving money on a hotel in Bangkok is great, but saving money on Bangkok flights is even better!

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With the way the world’s economy is at the moment, many people are canceling their vacations overseas and having staycations instead. Staycations are a great way to take a break and yet not have to incur the expense of flights overseas, visas and extra luggage. It is always a wonderful way to learn more about the place that you live. In addition, many employers tend to be more encouraging of vacations that are taken closer to home.

Another way to save is using websites that allow you to bid on your hotel or flight. It isn’t a guaranteed way to get a discount, but often times you can get your hotel and flight for even fifty percent off what you would normally pay. Coupons are also a great way to save on going out to eat, hunt around on restaurant website to see if they have any vacations. Sometimes even hotel concierges can offer you coupons for local restaurants that they have deals with. If you are have a staycation, you might consider purchasing food from local markets, you could make your own picnics for a fraction of the cost of a restaurant.

There are always concerts, festivals and museums that have free entry, be sure to take a look around either online or locally, perhaps at a library to get an idea for what is going on in your area. There are usually historical sites that offer free entry as well. Additionally, if you have a student ID or military ID, most places will offer discounts.

The best thing to consider even if you aren’t flying is Airport Parking, take advantage of the short stay lots if you are traveling with friends. Car Pooling is a great way to save on travel without emptying your savings account. Depending on your location, and you can utilize Gatwick Airport Parking or Heathrow Airport Parking for safely and often times cheaply parking your vehicle.

If you are flying overseas or to another part of the UK, a great way to save when flying is to book hotels and flights well in advance, many sites will offer discounts for booking in advance. Standby is a risky, but often can result in a much cheaper flight. Be sure not to take too many bags with you, verify with the airline how many bags that you can checkin and carry on to the plane with you. If you are flying in to Scotland, be sure to look at Glasgow Airport Parking for options on leaving or picking up your vehicle.

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These are just some of the cheapest places to travel around the world, relative of course to what currency you happen to be carrying. These places make great places to travel, are a bit off the beaten path, with generally have less visitors than their more expensive counterparts. Of course you can always figure out the cheapest places to travel at any time but this list is a good set of general countries. Prices vary between cities of course and locally as well in each town so take this list with a grain of salt. These are just some of the selected cheapest places to travel.

Morocco - It’s becoming ever popular with vacationing Europeans, but you can still get a good price in this inexpensive country. Travel in Morocco really caters to upper class or budget travelers with little in between. You can save a considerable amount of money but staying in a local riad or guest house, as opposed to the overpriced hotels around the country. Local food is also inexpensive with your biggest expense likely to be for tours and transportation.

Jordan - So many travelers neglect the Middle East for a variety of reasons, including fear or what they’ve heard on the news. Jordan has some of the most beautiful Mediterranean beaches in the world and some of the most fascinating historical and archeological sites you can find anywhere. Being relatively ignored in the region in terms of tourism has kept prices low.

Venezuela - It’s very inexpensive to travel to Venezuela, which has a well developed tourism industry. Putting politics aside, traveling here is like traveling to mot other places. Simply follow the usual local advice and refrain from discussing politics and you’ll have a wonderful time either in Caracas or by the warm beaches of Venezuela.

Romania - Inexpensive and home to some great sections of Black Sea coast. Travel to Romania during the warm July or August months since the coast can be chilly at other times of the year. Since it’s fairly quiet in terms of tourism, even during these popular months you shouldn’t have trouble finding a bit of your own space and save some money doing so as well.

Nicaragua - The cheaper version of Coast Rica (to put it bluntly) it’s much cheaper here just across the border. While most American tourists head straight to San Jose then to the rest of Coast Rica, most pass up on a chance to visit Nicaragua, which is considerably less expensive.

Indonesia - There are over 16,000 islands to explore in this culturally and physically diverse nation which has good weather almost all year round. It depends of course where in Indonesia you go, but you’ll get a great exchange rate in this country that’s not dangerous as it’s made out to be in the media.

Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus – On the island of Cyprus, this unrecognized territory is much cheaper than its southern counterpart. It’s every bit as beautiful (just take a look at beaches like Girne) but much less expensive. You can get there by going through the southern coastal town of Antalya in Turkey. Ferries leave several times a day and there are regular flights as well.

Cambodia – Thailand’s cheaper neighbor, it’s not really on the beaten tourist path yet. You can save quite a bit of money by vacationing in Cambodia and taking a side trip to Thailand instead.

There are so many more countries that could be added to this list like South Africa, Vietnam, many of the Central Asian nations and other parts of South America. Also, within each country itself there are plenty of variations in price and if you scratch a bit beneath the surface of advertised hotels and other tours you can save quite a bit of money by looking at your options after you arrive.

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Saving is only a small part of getting ready for your next trip – you can easily earn small amounts of money that add up by using some online tools and old fashioned methods. Take a look around your home and you’ll see a plethora of things you can slowly sell, without even losing their value. For example you can use sites like Amazon to sell off your old CDs and DVDs but back them up before doing so. You might be able to make a small amount of money but still keep your tunes on an iPod or other portable device; yet another one of 13 ways to go green as well. Look around to all of the junk you’ve got lying around – the stuff you haven’t touched in ages. It can and should go, but for a small price. Add it all up, combined with figuring out the cheapest places to travel, will give you more ways to travel as you want to.

You can also set up limits to donate items that you aren’t able to sell after 30-60 days (longer for seasonal items). While you won’t get money upfront for most donations you can keep the receipts and deduct the donations from your taxes. That might not help your very next trip but can be part of your long term savings if you put aside all of your charitable donation refund for part of a vacation. Another unconventional way to find extra money lying around is to look in toll booth returns for extra change – it’s a place where for some reason you can also find bills occasionally. We know it sounds weird but do hope that you’ll give it a try and see how much money you can find over the course of a week.

Put Your Skills To Use

Do you know another language, are good in math, or have some other specialized skill? Consider tutoring others or looking for freelancing gigs on sites like Elance that let you provide your services of flat or hourly fees. You can also advertise locally at your library, school, or other ask other public institutions if they might need your skills. Give yourself a leg up by creating a basic resume or having a list of qualifications handy and don’t forget to report the income when you do your taxes at the end of each year.

Research Groups

If there’s a university nearby or you happen to attend one, check out the bulletin boards and ask the various departments if they’ve got any research or medical programs going on. Most do and you can earn a pretty good amount of money by volunteering to help a research student conduct experiments. Don’t worry though, it’s typically things like taking tests or answering questions. Most medical research would only apply if you have a particular condition to be studied.

Focus groups are another easy way to make some money for an hour or two of your time. These are marketing research groups that will have you watch TV, take taste tests, or fill out questionnaires on a specific topic to help better advertise them. It’s not rocket science and you get paid anywhere from $50-200 an hour in most cases. Sign up to one of the local focus groups in your area and they’ll give you a call when you meet some of the conditions they are looking for. Participating in a focus group just once and month can be a great way to earn easily for your next trip.

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There are some things you can cut right now before your next trip to save a bundle for your vacation. Along with more money, these saving tips will also help you save time to more things at home. Cutting out a few of your non-essential but regular monthly expenses can open up a world of possibilities in any budget travel or otherwise. Some of the items suggested in this list may be painful to part with at first glance but not when you add up how much you’ll save month after month when you’re enjoying dinner on some of the top beaches in Europe. What is your priority – watching life on cable TV or actually living it?

Here are 8 ways you can save money before traveling and have more money for your next trip.

8 Ways To Save Money Before Traveling – Entertainment

1. Cable Television – Most of where you can save is by cutting out non-essential entertainment either partially or completely. Let’s begin with cable or satellite television if you subscribe to any level of it. We’d recommend cutting it completely so you aren’t paying anything to watch television. It may be a tough adjustment at first but one you can overcome by planning other activities in its place. You can also consider using your computer or laptop as a television as sites like Hulu offer recent network shows and plenty of older series on their site.

2. DVD and CD Purchases - Consider purchasing individual songs from iTunes or steam movies from other services like Netflix to cut down on your overall cost and reduce the amount of “stuff” you accumulate. That will make things lighter for you physically and also help you from overspending on things that you won’t use – like the junk songs on a CD or that DVD you’re not quite sure about.

3. Alcohol - A non-essential, albeit a fun, way to pass the time alcoholic liquids are expensive. Much more so than any other drink, and the same goes for tobacco. It’s tough to cut these completely out of your budget if they’re already a regular part of your life but you can certainly cut back for big savings. A good method is to set a weekly limit (i.e. 4 drinks or a pack of cigarettes per week) and stick to it.

8 Ways To Save Money Before Traveling – Trip Preparation

4. Luggage - Don’t bother with expensive suitcases or more bags than you really need. People tend to pick fill their backpacks, no matter how big or small they are. Save yourself the stress and expensive of buying multiple or sets of luggage because they don’t do you much good. Most people can get away with a 65 liter backpack. Here are some recommended RTW backpacks that won’t cost you much more than $200.

5. Communications - You won’t need your fancy cell phone overseas. Your digital nomad laptop can replace many of the small personal gadgets like cell phones that require monthly charges. You can use Skype to make free calls to other computers for free or to phones for reasonable per minute rates. Skype is just one of the great connectivity tools you can use to reduce your monthly subscription fees.

6. Lodging - We’ve already covered how to use layovers and sleep in airports to save money on hotels.

7. Camera - If you have an SLR or are passionate about photography and can afford a single-lens reflex (SLR) camera then go for it. However, for regular travelers a point and shoot digital will still take good enough pictures. The quality of these little cameras is improving and you can always edit them on your computer afterward. You’ll also save a few thousand by sticking to a basic digital camera.

Other Ways To Save At Home

8. Reduce the amount of energy you use around your home by installing a hot water heater timer, getting a programmable thermostat adjusted to the EPA’s recommended values, and insulate your home in the basic ways. Saving for your travels comes down to reducing what you already spend money and time on. Even modest reductions can result in big savings.

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Many countries will reimburse you for taxes you’ve paid in their country on the way out and you can reclaim this money at the airport. It’s a matter of filling in the right paperwork and being prepared to show it to the right office before you exit the country. Countries typically refund value added taxes (VAT), which is added on to the various stages of production. This tax is usually increases the prices of goods by 15-25% and is recirculated back into the consumer cycle. Before you travel to a country you should see if they charge VAT and how much (if any of it) you can reclaim. Since most VAT is added to most consumer goods chances are you’ll pay quite a bit of it so it’s a good idea to check.

Which Countries Charge VAT?

You can find a detailed list of the countries that charge VAT by finding the specific embassy for each nation you’ll be visiting on a given trip but here are some of the common ones. All of the countries in the European Union (EU), charge VAT and let you reclaim a portion of it. Also any country in the European Community (EC) as well. Japan, South Africa, and some eastern European nations, Turkey, and Croatia also charge VAT. Those are good places to begin but you should check no matter where you are going as laws and economies change. It can’t hurt to look and you might be missing out on a nice refund for simply being negligent in doing some quick research.

What Refunds Are Available?

You can usually get a VAT refund on any good purchased but not any services rendered. You’ll need to keep all of your receipts as they’ll likely be inspected – the bigger the refund the more your papers will be scrutinized so don’t forget to hold on to the proof. The goods you purchase in a country must also be leaving the country, so any gifts or personal items coming with you. You’ll get the VAT back on those items so be sure to calculate this into your budget and purchase any items abroad that might be cheaper than back home.

How To Reclaim VAT Taxes Paid Abroad

Tourists and those on personal travel must claim their VAT taxes before they depart the country. This almost always happens at the airport in customs although some airports have separate offices dedicated to reclaiming VAT. Be sure to ask information in the airport or call ahead of time to find out exactly where you need to go. Business travelers have the option of reclaiming the their taxes and filing the paperwork from home once they’re returned from the business trip. VAT is usually only refundable for purchases over about $20 and as mentioned before, you must have your receipts handy. You’ll also want to factor in about an hour extra at the airport (or two if it’s a busy day) to have the time to get your money back and still catch your flight.

Other Ways To Save On Taxes

If you are traveling to Europe, many stores may be participating in the Tax-free Shopping Program. You will see signs near the register in most big shops in Western Europe and by showing your passport will not be charged VAT. That will save you money obviously, but time as well at the airport with one less receipt the customs officer has to inspect. There are minimum purchase requirements in most cases so ask what they are and keep the receipt if you don’t meet them to try and reclaim those VAT at the airport. You may also be able to get in touch with a local VAT recovery company – they are especially useful if you are a business traveler or spend a lot of money abroad.

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Booking the perfect holiday takes careful planning, not only do you want the best destination but you want to make sure you get it at the best price. If you really want to save money why not apply this to every aspect of your getaway? Whether you’re looking for the lowest price on Heathrow airport parking or a relaxing stay in a Heathrow airport hotel a little extra care can bring some serious savings. Follow these steps when it comes to booking your parking and you’ll save yourself time and money whilst getting a top-notch service.

1. Pick Your Preference

This may seem like an obvious step when sorting out your parking but with so many options at Heathrow airport parking you need to know what you’re after if you’re going to get the best package. There’s loads of choice so you’ll definitely find what you’re looking for; on-airport parking will put you the closest to the airport while off-airport often works out the cheapest and some sites offer great services like ‘meet and greet’ if you want to feel like a VIP. Before you book look at all the options and you’ll end up with just what you want.

2. Book Early

When it comes to organizing the extras for your holiday it pays to sort it out early. Not only will you be able to rest easy with the knowledge that everything’s booked but you’ll get to choose from the best deals. Paying for parking on the day you fly could cost you up to £25 a day which is far more than you want to be paying, especially when booking ahead with a company like HolidayExtras.com could see you paying just £7.20 a day for the same service. Don’t run the risk of facing a full car park, get in early and reap the rewards.

3. Upgrade Your Experience

Although they won’t knock anything off the price you pay to leave your car in a safe place Heathrow airport parking upgrades will get your holiday off to a great start. Whether you get a helping hand dodging the traffic jams on the way to the airport by adding a Traffic Assistant upgrade to your booking or you treat yourself to the exclusivity of the Heathrow airport lounge, an upgraded booking is a great way to get in the holiday mood.

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